Justice and Mercy

In MoV(Merchant of Venice), I do not think that true justice has been meted out to Shylock. He allowed Bassanio to borrow the money from him, and Antonio's pound of flesh was going to be the mortgage in this deal. In the end, Bassanio and Antonio were unable to pay the debt, and Shylock asked for Antonio's pound of flesh. Portia said that he could take the flesh but he could not take a dip of bloods of Antonio. Shylock was unable to do it and was accused of trying to take a civilian's life. If true justice had been reached, then Shylock should get a pound of flesh as the contract stated even he could not touch a dip of bloods. This was the main purpose why the trial was held, the Duke should try to reach an agreement to this deal.

In my opinion, I think that there is no true justice in the story. Half of Shylock's possessions were given to Antonio, but Antonio agreed to keep the money for her daughter, Jessica. This seemed to be true mercy to Shylock at the first glance, but actually Jessica had converted herself to a Christian, leaving the money to Jessica had no relate to Shylock already. He did not get any benefit, as the money was only belonged to Jessica and Lorenzo. Antonio also allowed Shylock to convert himself to a Christian. This was very unfair to Shylock, he might be loyal to his own race, Jew. Asking him to convert into Christian was just like insulting him, Antonio might want to grab this opportunity to insult him together with his race. If Shylock converted himself into a Christian, he would be mocked by his Jewish friends. Hence this showed that there is no true mercy in the trial scene.

I agree that justice and mercy could be different because of the people in power who manipulated them. If the people in power disliked either side of the people involved in the trial, he could insist on not giving the side he disliked the justice. But if he had any good relationship with either side, he could try his best to bring mercy to the side mentioned. In MoV, the Duke might not be a racist, but somehow he had to support the Christian side, he was not able to bring justice for Shylock, and he had shown mercy to Antonio to try to save his life. Portia was a powerful rich lady, the Duke did not oppose anything regarding Portia's argument but he tried to protect Antonio and convict Shylock. In real life, the judge may have unusually close relationship with the prosecuting side. Even if the defendant is innocent, he may be wrongly judged and end up he was sentenced.